Sen. Obama took a few days off of campaigning so he could visit his grandmother, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham, in Hawaii. There is concern that Ms. Dunham will not live to see the elections, and this may well be the last time Sen. Obama gets to see his grandmother, the woman who helped raise him.

In a disgusting act of desperation, the GOP strategist Brad Blakeman tried to turn attention away from Gov. Palin’s $150,000 new wardrobe and insinuated that it was wrong that Sen. Obama was “taking a 767 campaign plane to go visit Grandma.”

Saying goodbye to your dying grandmother is a waste of resources?

Family values, indeed.

In honor of Ms. Dunham, and in shame of Mr. Blakeman, a donation page has been set up on Sen. Barack Obama’s website. The idea is to donate $8.60, or any multiple of $8.60, in honor of Ms. Dunham’s 86th birthday (Oct. 26th).

I added my contribution. In less than 24 hours the contributions were already over $5000. Amazing what good people can do when they work together.

This is Helen’s rant on the bigotry, lies and deception coming from the Republican Right.

Harold isn’t Muslim. He’s Catholic. I’m Methodist. Somehow we’ve managed to live peacefully married for 57 years. We didn’t get married in the church. As far as I am concerned that was no great loss. A short ceremony meant I got to eat cake sooner.

And just like Harold, Barack Hussein Obama isn’t a Muslim either… unless of course you attend a McCain rally where they think he’s either Muslim, a terrorist sympathizer, or not a United States citizen. Most recently they are calling him a socialist. They probably think that is some type of religion too. Smart ones those McCain supporters. One week they want to beat him up for something Rev. Wright said and the next week they want to hate him for being Muslim. For crying out loud people, he’s Christian. But exactly what would be the issue if he were a Muslim?…

This open letter written by Frank Shaeffer, one of the people responsible for the rise of the Religious Right in the United States, explains why the current Republican party is no longer serving the needs of many good Americans who self identify as Republican.

Dear Republicans:

This election all Republicans who love America must vote for Obama. A vote for business-as-usual and a continuation of the Neoconservative/Religious Right/ party of corporate American alienation is a vote against America. As a former Republican activist, I appeal to your patriotism and honor.

Unless you haven’t been paying attention to the recent history of the Republican Party you will know that today Republican ideology and energy is derived from three sources:

* The Religious Right,

* The Neoconservative Movement,

* Corporate business interests.

You also should know that when it comes to the Religious Right my late father and evangelist, Francis Schaeffer, was the intellectual voice that made it happen. As his young sidekick (in the 70s and 80s) I helped take his message to a huge evangelical audience.

I mention this by way of saying that even if you hate my guts — for having dropped out of the Republican Party, for writing novels that make fun of you, and for reregistering as an independent voter, let alone for supporting Senator Obama — perhaps you should listen up. I happen to know what I’m talking about.
…

Read the rest of the letter from Frank Schaeffer at The Huffington Post (very Left bias, but good reporting none the less.)

Senator Barack Obama is scheduled to make an appearance today (Tue. Oct 21) at Bicentennial Park in Miami. I have the day off work so I am so totally going to try to get over there. This will be my first political rally ever, so I’m not sure what to expect. But it should be interesting.

The Miami Herald reports that the Miami rally is set to cross times with the Miami Heat game at the AA Arena, so expect heavy traffic.

Do we ever not expect heavy traffic?

The rally at Bicentennial Park is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. while the Heat game starts at 7:30 p.m.

The crowd at Senator Obama’s Orlando rally was estimated at 50,000 people, the largest at a modern day Democratic campaign in Florida. The crowd expected for Bicentennial Park is 20,000 – 40,000 people.

Good times.

Bicentennial Park is on Biscayne Blvd, just seven blocks north of Bayside Marketplace.

The Herald reported long lines for the first day of voting, so go prepared: proper I.D., bottle of water, iPod, umbrella, list of who you are voting for in each category so that it doesn’t take you an hour to fill out the ballot.